2003 bmw e39 'trans fail error'

positivenote

hi all,
so here's my story. Bought 2003 530d e39 with approx 140k on her about 4 months ago. All going great untill about 2 weeks ago when it started to 'judder' a little sporadically, but the today i was driving fairly conservatively and had to put the foot down to make a light. Up flashed an error on the dash 'trans fail'. the power seemed to go completely on it. I got it another 7-8k on the m50 before turning off at blanch and then pulling away from a set of lights it wouldnt go out of first. I pulled over and then it wouldnt restart her, it turns over no problem but wont budge in D or in R. I tried again and she pulled away a little in D but wouldnt drive if I gave it any gas. Anyway, got her towed to me mechanic and hes going to have a look at her. Its me first auto having always had manuals and Im at a loss about what could be the issue. Theres no warning on the dash anymore.
Any ideas what I could be looking at or any advice I could give to me mechanic?
thanks in advance

bmwguy

positivenote wrote: »

hi all,
so here's my story. Bought 2003 530d e39 with approx 140k on her about 4 months ago. All going great untill about 2 weeks ago when it started to 'judder' a little sporadically, but the today i was driving fairly conservatively and had to put the foot down to make a light. Up flashed an error on the dash 'trans fail'. the power seemed to go completely on it. I got it another 7-8k on the m50 before turning off at blanch and then pulling away from a set of lights it wouldnt go out of first. I pulled over and then it wouldnt restart her, it turns over no problem but wont budge in D or in R. I tried again and she pulled away a little in D but wouldnt drive if I gave it any gas. Anyway, got her towed to me mechanic and hes going to have a look at her. Its me first auto having always had manuals and Im at a loss about what could be the issue. Theres no warning on the dash anymore.
Any ideas what I could be looking at or any advice I could give to me mechanic?
thanks in advance

I have had 2 e39 cars over the years a 530i and a 525i which I currently have. Both petrol autos. The 530i developed a transmission fault like you described and I had to replace the whole gearbox. The 525i developed a transmission fault and was only using gear 3 started in gear 3 and wouldn't change up or down. This only turned out to be a software problem and was a very cheap fix. So I don't know it could be catastrophic or simple, bring it to a good bmw independent and he will read the codes and know straight away. Your local mechanic may not know if he doesn't have the equipment to test

Supergurrier

First thing i would do if i bought an E39 would be a new transmission fluid change and filter along with an oil change ofc.

Notorious for this issue over 100k

Dale Parish

These GM boxes cannot handle the torque of the 3.0 M57 engine. I think it can just about handle it from the 2.5 M57.

Petrol uses a different auto box.

Sorry but you need a new another gearbox or rebuild.

positivenote

yeah, worst fears realized... transmission ballixed. €1500 ball park. only picked her up around 5 months ago...
Hopefully it'll be like a new box in her when I get it back and she wont have any issues for the next while.

Boskowski

Sorry to hear your troubles.

If its any consolation this is in no way common at all, just bad luck. Have my 98 E39 for 12 years now and never a beep out of the auto box, 100% maintenance free. You score an auto-box easily enough from a breaker, its 5 hours+ though to swap even for someone who knows what they're doing.

positivenote

Hi guys, just to revamp this thread as after getting a whole transmission redone on my 2003 e39 msport touring to a cost of 1400 euro in now starting to have similar issues. Auto is not dropping down to first, it's very sluggish as if it's taking off in 2nd or 3rd from a slow down and stop at a rojndabout or set if lights. I can shift through the gears manually no problem but I'm freaking out to be honest having just had her off worked on two months ago. Any ideas what the issue could be and wether it's the same issue? I'm really hoping it's not as the chap who worked on the tranny is a reputable bmw specialist who only works on the transmissions. Any advice welcomed

Supergurrier

positivenote wrote: »

Hi guys, just to revamp this thread as after getting a whole tranny revamp to a cost of 1400 euro in now starting to have similar issues. Auto is not dropping down to first, it's very sluggish as if it's taking off in 2nd or 3rd from a slow down and stop at a rojndabout or set if lights. I can shift through the gears manually no problem but I'm freaking out to be honest having just had her off worked on two months ago. Any ideas what the issue could be and wether it's the same issue? I'm really hoping it's not as the chap who worked on the tranny is a reputable bmw specialist who only works on the transmissions. Any advice welcomed

Was the torque converter reconditioned also ? Sounds like it's not holding gears correctly. Also was a full proper flush done on the whole unit as any debris would cause this.

steveshort

could be worth having the fluid level checked , maybe its slightly low

frozenfrozen

is it not switching down then banging into first like it can't decide whether it has enough torque in second? Does it also do this when in manual mode or will it go straight into the gear you want?

If it's the former and not the latter I think you can just reset the autobox by doing a combination of pushing down the gear kickdown button (which you reach when pressing the accelerator all the way down and turning the key to position 2 and off again or something along those lines.

If the hesitation is also there in manual mode then I don't know. Do the torque converters decouple when coming to a stop on e39 in D mode? If it does then that can be programmed out I think and there won't be a banging from that re-engaging if you start to accelerate while it's decoupled. The reason some auto boxes do this is to allow you to coast along and come to a smooth stop but if you want to slow down and then get going before you come to a stop it will get really jerky

I know you said from a stop but if you're rolling at all and slowing before it's happening that could potentially be it.